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ashoup
In News

ROUNDUP: Recent Polling Confirms Republican Plan To Decimate Health Care Is Wildly Unpopular

As Senate Republicans debate the GOP tax bill, recent polling confirms yet again that a majority of Americans strongly oppose their scheme to slash Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to fund tax breaks for the wealthy. As a result, 16 million Americans will lose life-saving coverage, including seniors, kids, people with disabilities, and hardworking families. Medicaid, the largest health insurance program in the country, remains widely popular across the board, with voters in both parties opposing any cuts. This polling shows that Republicans will face consequences at the ballot box when Americans find out they’re slashing health care and ripping coverage from millions to cover tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.

Hart Research for Families Over Billionaires, Center for America Progress Action, and Protect Our Care: Republicans’ Billionaire Tax Scam Toxically Unpopular with American Voters.

  • The major elements of the Republican budget bill – cuts to Medicaid, cuts to SNAP, and tax breaks for the wealthy – are extremely unpopular. 70% of voters expressed major concern over the bill raising families’ costs for groceries and health care through cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and ACA tax credits. 70% of voters expressed major concern over the bill raising costs on 80 million poor and middle class households. 
  • Among voters who supported Donald Trump in 2024, but with reservations, only 46% support the bill.
  • Before hearing any messaging, only 38% of voters support Republicans’ budget bill. After voters hear a neutral, factual description of the main elements of the bill, as shown below, opposition jumps by 15 points, from 46% to 61% – including 65% opposition from swing voters.

Navigator: Following the Passage of House Republicans’ Budget Plan, Initial Reactions of Battleground Constituents Are Negative and Grow More Sour as They Learn More.

  • A majority of Americans living in House battleground districts say they oppose the budget plan (net -12; 40 percent support – 52 percent oppose), including independents by 17 points (33 percent support – 50 percent oppose). This comes as a whopping 79 percent of battleground constituents have heard at least some about the budget plan that Republicans in Congress have passed.
  • The most strongly opposed policies in the budget plan are the tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and cuts to programs Americans depend on:
    • This budget bans Medicaid payments to health care providers that provide abortion services, even when the services they are providing are not abortion related (54 percent strongly oppose);
    • This budget gives the largest billionaire tax cut in history, paid for by making devastating cuts to Medicaid (52 percent strongly oppose);
    • This budget makes the largest cuts to Medicaid in U.S. history, which independent auditors estimate will cause 7.6 million Americans to lose their health insurance, including veterans, seniors, children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities (50 percent strongly oppose);
    • This budget raises health insurance costs by as much as $4,000 by ending tax credits for people and businesses who buy their health insurance on their own (50 percent strongly oppose); and,
    • This budget cuts more than $500 billion from Medicare (50 percent strongly oppose).

KFF: A Majority of the Public Worry About the Consequences of Proposed Medicaid Cuts. 

  • About seven in ten adults (72%) are worried that a significant reduction in federal funding for Medicaid would lead to an increase in the share of uninsured children and adults in the U.S. 
  • Seven in ten adults say they are worried that if the federal government significantly reduces its spending on Medicaid, there will be negative impacts on hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care providers in their communities (71%). 
  • Over half (54%) of U.S. adults are worried that reductions in federal Medicaid spending would negatively impact their own or their family’s ability to get and pay for health care. 

Blue Rose Research: Only a Quarter of Voters Think the Republican Tax Bill Will Help Them and Their Families.  

  • Just 25% of voters think the tax bill will help them and their families. 51% of voters (including 51% of swing voters) in critical battleground districts and states think Congress should be prioritizing lowering the cost of living and strengthening government programs like Medicaid. Just 38% of voters in these districts and states prefer the GOP’s focus on tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans.

Data for Progress: Voters Do Not Support the GOP Reconciliation Bill’s Tax and Spending Proposals.

  • While the GOP reconciliation plan is likely to contain hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts, only 10% of voters support these cuts. 
ashoup
In Fact Sheet, Research

FACT SHEET: 16 Million Americans Will Lose Their Health Care Under the GOP Tax Scam

The Republican Big, Terrible Bill Is Getting Worse By the Day

Republicans have supercharged their plan to kick millions of working families off health care in order to hand out tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. Thanks to their last-minute changes, an additional 2 million Americans will lose their health coverage in order to pay for a bill that now gives even more massive tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and large corporations and adds trillions to the federal deficit on the backs of hard-working families. The Congressional Budget Office is now estimating that the Republicans will cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which would throw 16 million Americans off their coverage, and increase the uninsured rate by 50 percent. Trump’s big, ugly bill encompasses the largest cuts to Medicaid and the ACA in history; the GOP plan will destroy our health care system and cause devastation to millions of Americans. This level of estimated coverage loss hasn’t been seen since the 2017 ACA repeal effort, and it threatens the livelihoods of seniors, children, people with disabilities, cancer patients, small business owners, and more. It’s time for Republicans in the Senate to prove where they stand: with billionaires or with everyday Americans.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Republican reconciliation package:

  • Rips health care away from 16 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, to pay for tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk and large corporations.
  • Cuts over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA to pay for handouts to the wealthiest Americans.
  • Hikes premiums for over 24 million Americans, including rural Americans, small business owners, and middle-class families.
  • Guts over $150 billion in critical funding for hospitals, which will shutter facilities, forcing more Americans to travel further for maternity care and emergency rooms, and face longer wait times. 
  • Generates over $600 billion in funding for tax breaks for the rich by making it harder than ever for working families to get the health care they need.
  • Demands $8.2 billion in new health care payments from families who are already struggling.
  • Contains a $5 billion giveaway to drug companies that will drive up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and taxpayers.

The Policies Underlying The Biggest Loss of Health Care in American History: The following policies underlie the biggest loss of health care in American history and will kick millions off their coverage, drive premiums through the roof, increase costs for families struggling to get by, raise drug prices for seniors, and make it harder for families to get covered and stay covered.

  1. Executes The Largest Cuts To Medicaid In History. Republicans are taking away Medicaid so they can give away tax breaks to billionaires, regardless of what they call it. Whether they do it through devastating cuts to federal funding or the addition of burdensome bureaucratic reporting measures known as work requirements, they will have the same result: taking away Medicaid from people who are counting on it. 
    • Includes billions in cuts to Medicaid Expansion funding to over a dozen states. Republicans are punishing states with cuts to funding for Medicaid expansion. In doing so, Republicans are putting the health care of nearly 12 million Americans across 14 states at risk in the crosshairs of the Republican war on immigrants, including children. States like Illinois stand to lose the most from this policy, where nearly 1 million Illinoisans rely on Medicaid expansion for health care, and the state is required to repeal the program altogether without full federal funding. The reduction in Medicaid expansion funding may also force over 60 rural hospitals across the states affected to close, including in Minnesota, Vermont, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, California, and New York.
    • Takes away critical financial incentives for states to expand Medicaid, leaving millions of low-income families across the country with nowhere to turn for health care. 10 states have yet to fully expand Medicaid: Georgia, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Yet, at a time when people are struggling to afford the cost of living and facing economic uncertainty, Republicans are ripping away the possibility of health coverage from millions in these states. States without Medicaid expansion require that some families earn as little as $4,130 a year in order to qualify for Medicaid. 
    • Limits the ways states fund Medicaid, including provider taxes and state directed payments, which will shutter struggling hospitals and make it nearly impossible for states to manage the burden of the largest cuts to Medicaid in history without kicking millions off their coverage and taking away benefits.
  2. Hikes Premiums For Over 24 Million Americans. Republicans are ending tax credits for working families, raising costs, and ripping away health care from millions of Americans. If Republicans take away these tax credits, they’ll be taking away health care. Costs will skyrocket by an average of $2,400 for millions of families, and 5 million people will lose their health care altogether. Republicans are going to raise costs on middle-class families while they hand out tax breaks to the very rich and biggest corporations. Families will pay up to 90 percent more for their health care, while billionaires and CEOs will get another huge tax break. 
  3. Adds Wasteful Paperwork Requirements Designed To Throw Millions of Eligible Americans Off Their Health Care To Pay For Tax Breaks For The Wealthy And Corporations. Work requirements are nothing more than purposely burdensome paperwork designed to kick nearly 5 million people off the rolls to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. Taking away Medicaid doesn’t help people find jobs. In fact, Medicaid helps people stay employed, and making unemployed people sicker makes it more difficult for them to find work, especially in this tough economy. A government bureaucrat shouldn’t get to decide if someone is “too able-bodied” for health care. People with conditions like severe pain, fatigue, or mental illness may not qualify as “disabled enough” to be exempted from work requirements. Work reporting requirements have been a colossal waste of money in every state that has implemented them and have been shown to increase paperwork but not job growth.
  4. Increases Health Care Costs For Families Struggling To Get By. Republicans are raising health care costs by demanding $8 billion in new copayments from millions of hardworking families who rely on ACA Medicaid expansion, families who likely already struggle to make ends meet. In addition, the GOP proposal includes a formula change that would increase premiums by an additional $313 a year for the typical family purchasing insurance on their own. It would also allow insurance companies to impose an additional $900 in deductibles and other cost-sharing on families with any private health insurance, including people with employer-based insurance. The proposal also removes regulations requiring private insurers to offer high-quality coverage by allowing them to cover as little as 66% of costs while retaining “Silver” plan status. With this bill, Republicans will increase out-of-pocket costs for middle- and low-income families, while making it easier for insurance companies to rip off Americans.
  5. Drives Up Prescription Drug Costs And Pads Big Pharma’s Profits. Republicans are slipping a huge giveaway to Big Pharma into a reconciliation package already loaded with tax breaks for CEOs and greedy corporations like drug companies, meaning Big Pharma’s multimillion-dollar investments at Mar-a-Lago are paying off big time. Their scheme to exempt drugs that treat rare diseases from negotiation creates a major loophole for drug companies to exploit to continue padding their profits and price-gouging the seniors who rely on these drugs.
  6. Makes It Harder For Families To Get Covered And Stay Covered. Republicans are codifying key parts of the 2025 Marketplace Sabotage rule proposed by CMS in March into law. This rule is estimated to kick 2 million people off their Marketplace coverage, increase premiums for millions of people, and make enrolling in a plan more difficult. These changes will make it harder for families to enroll in ACA plans by shortening the enrollment period and taking away low-income families’ ability to sign up for coverage outside of the six-week enrollment period. These policies establish more paperwork burdens for enrolling and proving eligibility for tax credits and targets vulnerable communities that have historically faced barriers to accessing health care.
ashoup
In News

DISGUSTING: Dr. Oz Says “Prove You Matter” While Republicans Line Billionaires’ Pockets At The Expense of 16 Million Americans

Washington, D.C. – Today, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz said that people who rely on Medicaid for critical health care and life-saving coverage need to “prove that they matter.” Donald Trump and the Republicans’ tax bill will rip health care away from 16 million Americans in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. The GOP plan will destroy our health care system and cause devastation to millions of Americans, including seniors, children, people with disabilities, cancer patients, small business owners, and more. Read more about the GOP tax scam here. 

In response, Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement:

“Dr. Oz’s demand that people who rely on Medicaid ‘prove they matter’ perfectly sums up the callousness of Trump and the Republicans’ plan to gut health care for 16 million Americans. Because nothing says compassion like demanding proof from already-struggling Americans while Donald Trump and the Republicans fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. The GOP plan is a wrecking ball aimed at anyone who isn’t wealthy or well-connected. Apparently, the only people who matter to Dr. Oz and the GOP are the billionaires whose pockets they are trying to line at the expense of everyone else.”

ashoup
In News

Citizens Deliver Gravestones to Joni Ernst As Republicans Push Forward With Deadly Health Care Cuts 

Today, Joni Ernst Doubled Down Not Once, But Twice On Her “We’re All Going to Die” Statement As Americans Fight Back

View Getty Images Here.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has made it crystal clear: she has no regrets about her viral “Well, we’re all going to die” comment. Instead of walking back her cold, callous dismissal of constituents worried about the GOP’s Medicaid cuts, she doubled down twice today. Her response was a sarcastic mess where she mocked Iowans’ concerns from a graveyard. Today, health care advocates confronted Ernst and brought the graveyard to her as a reminder that real lives are at stake.

16 million Americans will lose critical health care coverage. Seniors, kids, people with cancer, people with disabilities – these are the people that Ernst and Republicans are leaving behind so they can fund another tax break for Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the rest of their billionaire buddies. While Ernst cracks jokes, everyday Americans are wondering how they’ll be able to see a doctor or afford lifesaving prescriptions. Joni Ernst can keep pretending like what she said is funny and acceptable, but the rest of us know it is deadly serious. 

Here’s how Republicans will strip 16 million Americans of their health care and endanger lives in the process: 

ashoup
In Commentary, News

BY THE NUMBERS: How 16 Million Will Lose Coverage From the GOP Tax Scam

Trump and Republicans want you to believe that they aren’t taking away your health care, but the numbers don’t lie. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released new analysis confirming the GOP’s deeply unpopular plan will rip health care away from 16 million Americans in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. 

Trump’s big, ugly bill cuts nearly a trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Combined with taking away the ACA tax credits, the GOP plan will destroy our health care system and cause devastation to millions of Americans. This level of coverage loss hasn’t been seen since the 2017 ACA repeal effort, threatening the livelihood of millions, including seniors, children, people with disabilities, cancer patients, small business owners, and more. It’s a scam to give massive tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and large corporations on the backs of hard-working families. It’s time for Republicans in the Senate to prove where they stand: with billionaires or with everyday Americans.

Here’s exactly how Republicans are sabotaging health care:

  • Rips health care away from 16 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, to pay for tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk and corporations such as Big Pharma.
  • Cuts over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA to pay for handouts to the wealthiest Americans.
  • Hikes premiums for over 24 million Americans including rural Americans, small business owners, and middle-class families.
  • Guts over $150 billion in critical funding for hospitals, which will shutter facilities, causing more Americans to live in maternity care deserts, travel further to emergency rooms, and face longer wait times. 
  • Generates over $600 billion in funding for tax breaks for the rich by making it harder than ever for working families to get the health care they need.
  • Demands $8.2 billion in new health care payments from families who are already struggling.
  • Contains a $5 billion giveaway to drug companies that will drive up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and taxpayers.
ashoup
In News, Roundup

COVERAGE: Republican Tax Scam Cuts Over A Trillion From American Health Care, 16 Million Will Lose Coverage

Yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released updated analysis on Republicans’ tax bill and confirmed 16 million Americans will be kicked off their health care, including kids, people with disabilities, seniors, and working families. This bill slashes over $1 trillion in American health care – the largest health care cut in American history – in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. Despite their empty promises to protect health care or lower prices, Donald Trump and Republicans are going to force seniors out of nursing homes, shutter rural hospitals, cause health care costs to skyrocket, and rip life-saving coverage away from millions.

Bloomberg: Health Coverage for 16 Million Said at Risk With GOP Plan.

  • “The number of people in the US without health insurance is poised to increase by 16 million by 2034 under Republican plans for spending cuts, the Congressional Budget Office estimated… The reconciliation bill alone—which the GOP plans to pass using a budget mechanism without needing Democrats’ support—would lead to around 11 million more people without insurance. CBO estimates that proposed Medicaid work requirements for adults aged 19 to 64 without dependents would increase the number of uninsured by 4.8 million by 2034.”

ABC News: “The CBO Projects Overall a Total of 16 Million People Could Potentially Go Uninsured Over the Next Decade.”

  • “The bill narrowly passed the House in May, but now some GOP members are signaling regret on their stamp of approval… The president has lashed out at GOP senators who are threatening to complicate its path forward, including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. Paul, who is specifically taking issue with the deficit, told ABC News following Trump’s attacks that he’s been “consistent” about his view from the start. Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, has been critical of the bill the House passed to the Senate because it adds to the deficit.”
  • “‘The more you look at the bill, the worse it gets,’ [Senator Chuck] Schumer said. He slammed the impact the changes to Medicaid are projected to have on people’s health insurance as well as on rural hospitals and nursing homes. ‘People will fall through the cracks and get phased out of coverage in the coming years. Death by 1,000 paper cuts. That’s the intention of the Republican bill,’ he said.”

Modern Healthcare: “The Combined Effects of Those Policies and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Would Result in 16 Million More Uninsured People.”

  • “The Republican tax-and-spending-cuts legislation speeding through Congress would take more than $1 trillion out of the healthcare system over a decade, according to an analysis the Congressional Budget Office published Wednesday… Medicaid would be subject to the lion’s share of the cuts and see its federal budget diminish by $864 billion. The work requirement provisions alone would reduce spending by $344 billion… The CBO projects that the Medicaid cuts and other policies would lead to 10.9 million people becoming uninsured, including 7.8 million who would lose Medicaid benefits.”

Stat News: “16 Million People Could Become Uninsured Over a Decade.”

  • “Overall, the bill increases the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion over a decade, thanks to its extension of Trump’s tax cuts and the enactment of new ones. Extending lower tax rates alone costs $2.2 trillion over a decade, for example. The bill includes cuts to federal spending on health coverage of more than $1 trillion.”
  • “About 7.8 million people would lose Medicaid coverage, while much of the rest of the losses would stem from the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges. Among those losing coverage would be 1.4 million immigrants and others who don’t have, or can’t prove, a legal status that would give them access to insurance… The CBO report doesn’t account for another looming change to health care: enhanced premium tax credits that help people buy ACA coverage are set to expire at the end of the year. The bill does not renew them. The Trump administration has separately estimated that 4.4 million would lose coverage without the tax credits.”

Washington Examiner: “This Would Be the Biggest Rollback in Federal Support for Health Care Ever.”

  • “Democrats and a handful of Republicans have pushed back on the bill’s healthcare provisions, particularly the institution of work requirements for certain Medicaid recipients. Changes to Medicaid and Obamacare in the Energy and Commerce Committee portion of the bill would result in 9.1 million uninsured people, while the Ways and Means provisions would result in 2.3 million newly uninsured people by 2034. The overlap between the programs reduces the uninsured rate by half a million, for a grand total of 10.9 million uninsured people by 2034.”

Splinter: Trump and the GOP’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Fails Its Final CBO Score.

  • “Digging into the human costs reveals how it is even more heinous, as the CBO says it would increase the uninsured population by 10.9 million people over the next ten years. Republicans are lying about how this will throw people off Medicaid by saying that undocumented immigrants are receiving benefits when we know that is not true. This bill is an explicit attempt to take Medicaid away from people in order to partially pay for tax cuts for billionaires that will still blow out the deficit and raise borrowing costs for everyone. In true Republican fashion, many of these empty suits are now lamenting their vote in favor of this calamitous bill they clearly did not read.”
  • “The Yale School of Public Health sent a letter to Democrats warning that this bill could kill 51,000 Americans each year… 15 million people would lose health care coverage because of this GOP bill, and there is enough evidence before you get to Republican Senator Joni Ernst’s gleeful reaction to people dying to suggest that Republicans are happy to accept killing tens of thousands of people in order to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America. This is their agenda.”

Economic Policy Institute: “[Republicans] Chose to Slash Programs Helping Some of the Most Vulnerable Families.”

  • “This direct transfer of income from vulnerable families to the richest can be summarized in a striking symmetry: If the bill becomes law, the annual cuts to Medicaid would average over $70 billion in coming years—the same amount millionaires and billionaires would gain in tax cuts each year.”
  • “These health care spending cuts would lead directly to millions of people losing health insurance… the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated coverage losses of at least 15 million… a disproportionate share of the House bill’s Medicaid cuts would almost surely fall exactly on these weaker local economies. We estimate that roughly 27 million workers are in these weaker local economies, and that Medicaid cuts could depress local spending enough to force the loss of 850,000 jobs.”

Nasdaq: “Health Insurance Coverage for Millions of Americans Hangs in the Balance.”

  • “Under the deal passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month, policy analysts are estimating between 10.9 million and 15 million people would lose access to their health insurance plans over the course of the budget window, which extends to 2034… Several million more are also expected to lose their health insurance coverage through changes to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, combined with sunsetting provisions that the GOP megabill does not extend.”

The Hill: “House Republicans Rushed to Vote on This Bill Without an Accounting From CBO on the Millions of People Who Will Lose Their Health Care.”

  • “Nearly 11 million people would lose health insurance under the House Republican tax bill, mostly due to cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO’s latest report estimates that 10.9 million people would be uninsured over the next decade if the spending package, which includes much of President Trump’s legislative agenda, were enacted.”
  • “Republicans are likely to downplay the significance of the analysis… Some GOP senators have expressed concerns about some of the Medicaid provisions and say they won’t support the bill without changes.”

CBS News: “Federal Spending on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act Would Be Reduced by $902 Billion Over a Decade.”

  • “House Republicans are aiming to cut at least $1.5 trillion in spending to offset trillions in tax cuts, while also raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. The CBO projection puts the spending cuts at about $1.2 trillion over the next decade, with the tax cuts totaling just under $3.7 trillion. The national debt currently stands at roughly $36 trillion, according to the Treasury Department…  Though Republicans vowed to protect Medicaid benefits and have framed cuts to the program as trimming ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’ the analysis found that the portion of the bill dealing with Medicaid would mean 7.8 million fewer people being enrolled in the safety net program.”

The Wall Street Journal: “Most People, Republicans and Democrats Alike, Want Medicaid Funding to Stay the Same or Increase.”

  • “The 10.9 million figure is an increase from an earlier CBO estimate Republicans released last month. That earlier number pegged the newly uninsured at 7.6 million. The GOP plan thins the rolls by adding more eligibility checks and work requirements for Medicaid recipients. It also makes it more difficult to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans… Cutting Medicaid is unpopular. A March KFF poll found that most people, Republicans and Democrats alike, want Medicaid funding to stay the same or increase”
ashoup
In News

STATEMENT: New CBO Analysis Confirms What We Knew – The GOP Tax Scam Is A Health Care Bloodbath and Millions Will Suffer

Washington D.C. – The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just released new analysis confirming that Trump and Republicans’ big, ugly bill will, combined with taking away the ACA tax credits, rip health care away from 16 million Americans, including kids, people with disabilities, seniors, and working families. Between the largest Medicaid cuts in history and decimating the Affordable Care Act, health care costs will skyrocket, and millions will lose life-saving care, all so Trump and the Republicans can give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest people and big corporations. 

“The CBO has confirmed what we knew all along – this bill is horrendous for the American people and Donald Trump and Republicans are lying about it,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “Now there is no doubt left about the destruction and devastation Republicans are causing to our health care system by making the largest health care cuts in history. Not only will hardworking families lose their coverage, but rural hospitals will shut down, seniors will be forced to leave their nursing homes, and people fighting cancer or addiction will lose access to lifesaving treatment. But Republicans are more concerned with lining the pockets of billionaires than protecting American health care. Now it’s on Senate Republicans to stand up for their constituents, not billionaires, and oppose this bill.”

BY THE NUMBERS

  • Rips health care away from 16 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, to pay for tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk and corporations such as Big Pharma.
  • Guts over $150 billion in critical funding for hospitals, which will shutter facilities, causing more Americans to live in maternity care deserts, travel further to emergency rooms, and face longer wait times. 
  • Generates over $600 billion in funding for tax breaks for the rich by making it harder than ever for working families to get the health care they need.
  • Demands $8.2 billion in new health care payments from families who are already struggling.
  • Contains a $5 billion giveaway to drug companies that will drive up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and taxpayers.
ashoup
In News

NEW POLL: Republicans’ Billionaire Tax Scam Toxically Unpopular with American People 

Key defensive arguments by Congressional Republicans, including work requirements, are also unpopular.

Washington, D.C. – As Republicans push forward with their Billionaire Tax Scam in the Senate, Families Over Billionaires, in partnership with Center for American Progress Action Fund and Protect Our Care, released a new poll conducted by Hart Research showing overwhelming public opposition to Republicans’ harmful legislation to slash Medicaid and food assistance to pay for billionaire tax breaks. 

This poll confirms what we already knew about Republicans’ budget bill – at a time when Americans are concerned about the cost of living, this legislation is wildly unpopular, and is only getting more unpopular the more people hear about it. 

The poll was conducted nationally from May 27-28. Full poll memo from Hart Research can be found here.

See below for key findings:

The Republican budget bill is unpopular, with opposition growing even more intense as voters learn more about it.

  • Before hearing any messaging, only 38% of voters support Republicans’ budget bill.
  • After voters hear a neutral, factual description of the main elements of the bill, opposition jumps by 15 points, from 46% to 61% – including 65% opposition from swing voters:

The Republican budget bill, which recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives with the backing of Donald Trump, would do the following:
(1) Cut Medicaid and food stamps
(2) Eliminate tax incentives for clean energy projects
(3) Increase border security
(4) Permanently extend all tax cuts in the 2017 Trump tax law, including those for the wealthy
(5) Temporarily eliminate taxes on tips and overtime

The bill is even underwater with many Trump voters.

  • Among voters who supported Donald Trump in 2024, but with reservations, only 46% support the bill.

The major elements of the Republican budget bill – cuts to Medicaid, cuts to SNAP, and tax breaks for the wealthy – are extremely unpopular.

  • Voters strongly oppose the main parts of the Republican budget bill: cuts to Medicaid (70%), cuts to SNAP (69%), and tax breaks for the wealthy (68%).

Republicans’ spin falls flat with the public.

  • Only 38% of voters say they have a favorable view of the bill “establishing work requirements for Medicaid,” while 50% say that it is unfavorable.
  • 58% of voters reject Republicans’ framing that their bill will deliver “tax cuts for everyone.”

The American people are especially concerned that the bill will cause the cost of groceries, health care, interest rates and utility bills to skyrocket.

  • 70% of voters expressed major concern over the bill raising families’ costs for groceries and health care through cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and ACA tax credits. 
  • 70% of voters expressed major concern over the bill raising costs on 80 million poor and middle class households.
ashoup
In News

“Wealth Over Workers”: Senator Ron Wyden, Former Medicaid Director Join Protect Our Care to Urge The Senate to Reject the GOP Tax Scam and Protect Health Care for the American People

Watch the Full Event Here.

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) and former Medicaid Director Daniel Tsai joined Protect Our Care for a press conference calling on Republicans in the Senate to put people over politics and reject the House spending bill. The bill includes the largest Medicaid cuts in history, guts key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and eliminates premium tax credits. 

As the largest health care provider in the country, Medicaid provides health care to more than 70 million Americans. According to analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, between the drastic cuts to Medicaid and the harmful ACA marketplace cuts in this bill, more than 13 million Americans will lose health care coverage and millions more will see their health care costs soar. Not only will hardworking families lose access to care, rural hospitals will shut down, seniors will be forced to leave their nursing homes, and people fighting cancer or addiction will lose lifesaving care.

“This bill can be called caviar over kids and wealth over workers,” said Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden. “The reality is the House bill has hurt written all over it. Rural health care providers say this legislation will hit them like a wrecking ball. Seniors are going to face a greater risk of abuse and neglect in nursing homes, and Americans with disabilities will lose a lifeline of care at home. This is bureaucratic water torture that’s going to cause untold suffering as millions lose their health insurance and millions more struggle to navigate through a maze of red tape. Senate Republicans need to know that cutting health care is a death sentence for their constituents.” 

“As someone that has run Medicaid program at the federal level, at the state level, and now at the local level, I want to be clear: saying this bill does not cut Medicaid or won’t hurt our most vulnerable is not just misleading, it’s factually wrong,” said former Medicaid Director Daniel Tsai. “Everything in this bill will lead to millions of people losing their health care coverage, and will fundamentally destabilize and threaten hospitals, clinics, and providers. This is a master class in finding ways to disguise cuts to programs with very technical provisions.” 

“Late last week, Senator Joni Ernst said the quiet part out loud and admitted that Republicans would rather line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy than protect the health care that millions of families depend on,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “By putting our health care on the chopping block, Republicans are turning their backs on the American people. Their agenda is clear: raise costs on hardworking families and rip coverage away from millions. Now Senate Republicans must make the choice – side with Joni Ernst and billionaires or stand up for the health care of millions of everyday Americans. The stakes couldn’t be higher.”

ashoup
In News

HEADLINES: Ernst Lets Slip GOP’s Medicaid Agenda – “We’re All Going to Die” – And Then Doubles Down in Sarcastic Apology

On Friday, Republican Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) exposed the cruelty behind Republicans’ agenda to slash health care for millions to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy: “Well, we’re all going to die.” The comment came during a town hall in Iowa after a concerned constituent called out that the GOP plan to slash Medicaid will cause people to die prematurely. While Senator Ernst and Republicans in Washington hand out massive tax breaks to billionaires, they are making the largest health care cuts in American history – cuts that will be particularly devastating in rural states like Iowa where hospitals and care facilities could be forced to shut down. In a sarcastic non-apology, Ernst mocked worried constituents as she walked in a cemetery and brought up the tooth fairy.

“Senator Ernst displayed a stunning level of disregard for the life-altering consequences her party’s health care cuts will unleash on everyday Americans,” said Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse. “For millions of Americans, Medicaid is the difference between life and death. But when faced by worried constituents, Ernst shrugged them off, and then made fun of them. If Republicans get their way, families will be forced to choose between groceries or seeing a doctor, sick children will be turned away from care, and lives will be lost – and Ernst and Republicans don’t seem to care. That’s because the Republican health care agenda isn’t about protecting families or lowering costs, it’s about slashing millions’ health care in order to bankroll massive tax breaks for the wealthiest individuals and companies.”

The New York Times: Defending Medicaid Cuts, Ernst Tells Iowans, ‘We All Are Going to Die’

  • The sprawling legislation Ms. Ernst was discussing, which contains a $4 trillion tax cut that would provide the biggest savings to the wealthy, also would make several changes to Medicaid, including adding a strict new work requirement. The independent, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that the bill would cause around 10 million Americans to become uninsured. Ms. Ernst’s comment on Friday came after town hall attendees interrupted her as she was highlighting provisions in the domestic policy measure that seek to ensure that undocumented immigrants, who are not eligible to enroll in Medicaid, would not receive any services.

Newsweek: Republican Senator To Medicaid Cuts Protesters — ‘We’re All Going To Die’

  • During a tense exchange with protesters at a town hall, Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa responded to concerns over potential Medicaid cuts by declaring, “Well, we are all going to die.” The remark came as demonstrators pressed her on the impact that proposed reductions could have on vulnerable populations, particularly the elderly and disabled. The comment quickly drew attention, with critics calling it dismissive and insensitive given the stakes of the health care debate.

Des Moines Register: ‘Well, We All Are Going To Die’: Sen. Ernst Defends Medicaid Cuts At Heated Iowa Town Hall

  • “People are not — well, we all are going to die,” Ernst said, prompting shouting from the audience. “For heaven’s sakes, folks.” Ernst said the goal of the bill is to make sure that people who are not eligible for Medicaid benefits don’t receive them. “What you don’t want to do is listen to me when I say that we are going to focus on those that are most vulnerable,” Ernst said. “Those that meet the eligibility requirements for Medicaid, we will protect. We will protect them. Medicaid is extremely important here in the state of Iowa. If you don’t want to listen, that’s fine.” Talking to reporters later in the day at a Google data center construction site, Ernst said the now-viral reaction to her comments is “hysteria that’s out there coming from the left.”

KCRG: GOP Senator Doubles Down On ‘We’re All Going To Die’ Talk By Mocking Voters 

  • At the town hall, Sen. Ernst defended efforts to rollback, as she called it, benefits for people she said were not supposed to be eligible for Medicaid benefits. That response drew shouting from the crowd including one woman who yelled “people will die”. An exacerbated Ernst gave a sarcastic reply “well we are all going to die”, which drew more angst from the crowd. On Saturday, Ernst posted on her Instagram story a “sincere apology,” saying sarcastically “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this earth.” Ernst went on to say “So, I apologize. And I am really really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well.”

USA Today: Opinion: Sen. Joni Ernst Helps GOP Find Its Authentic Voice: ‘We All Are Going To Die.’

  • Spot on, Sen. Ernst! Whether it’s robbing low-income Americans of food and health care or pulling funding from U.S. foreign-aid programs that literally keep impoverished people around the world alive, the GOP under President Donald Trump has seemed dead set on … well … death.

Newsweek: Joni Ernst’s Sarcastic ‘Apology’ for Medicaid Cuts Response Sparks Fury 

  • In the background of the video, which has since widely circulated on X, she appears to be walking through a cemetery as what look like gravestones can be seen scattered behind her on the grass. After she shared the video, the internet exploded with comments responding to the senator’s statement. Keith Edwards, a political commentator and YouTuber with more than 138,000 followers on X, wrote on the social media platform: “Against all odds, Joni Ernst has made it worse.”

Huffington Post: GOP Senator On Fears Medicaid Cuts Will Lead To Deaths: ‘We All Are Going To Die’ 

  • “We’re not going to cut those benefits, what we are doing is making sure that those who are not Medicaid eligible are not receiving benefits,” Ernst, who is facing reelection next year, said of the GOP bill at the town hall. Experts, however, consider tightening Medicaid eligibility and thereby reducing its expenditures to be the same as cutting the program. One major study also found that Medicaid reduced the risk of death.

The Hill: Joni Ernst Responds To Jeers On Medicaid Cuts: ‘Well, We’re All Going To Die’ 

  • Someone in the crowd tried to talk over Ernst, interrupting her answer about changes to Medicaid and SNAP, yelling out that people are “going to die” because of the reforms. Ernst answered: “Well, we’re all going to die.” That quip produced a raucous jeer from the crowd.

The Independent: Joni Ernst Doubles Down On Bleak ‘We Are All Going To Die’ Comments In Sarcastic Non-Apology 

  • The senator went viral after she said, “We all are going to die,” when responding to a question about the proposed cuts in President Donald Trump’s tax legislation during a town hall in Parkersburg on Friday. As Ernst began to answer the question, a person in the audience shouted, “People will die!” “People are not — well, we all are going to die. For heaven’s sakes, folks,” she said in response. The comment received national media attention and was widely criticized by Democrats who have slammed the possible ramifications of the proposed cuts to Medicaid.

Daily Mail: Republican Senator Responds To Uproar After Telling Constituents ‘We’re All Going To Die’ 

  • Her ‘non-apology’ came after Friday evening’s clip of the exchange at the town hall went viral with critics accusing Ernst of trivializing the real consequences of the Republican-backed ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’. The sweeping legislative package includes nearly $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid. 

MSNBC: Pressed On Medicaid Cuts, Iowa’s Ernst Tells Constituents, ‘Well, We’re All Going To Die’ 

  • Told that people would die as a result of her party’s health care cuts, the Iowa Republican really did say, “Well, we all are going to die.” Ernst went on to tell the audience, however, “What you don’t want to do is listen to me when I say that we are going to focus on those that are most vulnerable. Those that meet the eligibility requirements for Medicaid, we will protect. We will protect them.” The problem with that, however, is that her assurances aren’t altogether true. According to the Congressional Budget Office, many struggling Americans who currently meet the eligibility requirements for Medicaid would likely lose their health security as a direct result of the Republican’s reconciliation package.

People: GOP Senator Bashes Constituents Who Say Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Cuts Will Kill People: ‘Well, We’re All Going To Die’ 

  • The “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which narrowly passed in the House in a party-line 215-214 vote, revives President Donald Trump‘s tax cuts from 2017; prioritizes funding for deportation and border efforts; diminishes green energy tax incentives; increases the national deficit by $3.8 trillion; and, as discussed at the town hall, puts stricter limits on who can claim benefits from Medicaid and SNAP.

Bossip: “We’re All Going to Die”: Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s Medicaid Dig 

  • She later doubled down in a follow-up video on her Instagram Stories. Ernst sarcastically joked about the tooth fairy and saving constituents from the inevitability of death and taxes. Meanwhile, 20% of Americans (including 20% of Iowans) who rely on Medicaid would face more of both under this proposed bill.

Rolling Stone: Senator Dismisses Medicaid Cuts Killing People: ‘Well, We’re All Going To Die’ 

  • Republicans have been struggling to justify the tax bill’s cuts to Medicaid and other social services, which are wildly unpopular. GOP lawmakers have been arguing that the millions of Americans who are expected to lose health care over the cuts are undeserving and are abusing the system…Ernst said before her constituent pointed out that people will die. “When you are arguing about illegals who are receiving Medicaid benefits, 1.4 million, they are no eligible, so they will be coming off.” This is total bullshit. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) pointed out while arguing against the bill last week that of the millions of Americans projected to lose coverage because of the “big, beautiful” bill, exactly zero are undocumented, as undocumented immigrants are ineligible for Medicaid. 
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